Anton du Beke talks to Alice Cairns about Erin Boag, his novel-writing and 15 years of Strictly...
Anton du Beke is a man of many talents. He’s Strictly Come Dancing’s longest-serving professional, the only dancer to have appeared in every show since it first aired in 2004.
He’s also a singer, with a silky smooth baritone and his very own debut album, From The Top. His first novel, One Enchanted Evening, hit bookshop shelves last year and his second, Moonlight Over Mayfair, was released in October.
Now Anton is on tour, bringing Anton & Erin… Dance Those Magical Movies to venues, complete with a 23-piece orchestra and a rainbow of lavish costumes.
Anton discovered his passion for ballroom by chance when, as a 14-year-old, he was dispatched to collect his sister from dance class. Watching from the side of the room, he was tempted to give it a go.
“I know many people have to search and search for their vocation, but the first time I danced, I knew I loved it,” he says. “I didn’t know how to make a career out of it, but I knew I wanted to keep doing it.”
So Anton kept dancing and met his long-term dance partner, Erin Boag, in 1997. They’ve been dancing together for 22 years.
“Of course we get on each other’s nerves – almost constantly!” Anton laughs. “But when you’ve worked with someone for that long, you can read their mood, and guess what they’re going to do or say next. All the best double acts – Ant and Dec, Phil and Holly – have worked together for a decade or more.”
Erin was also a Strictly pro, performing on the programme for almost 10 years before she left in 2012. With the departure of Brendan Cole in 2018, Anton is officially the last dancer left standing from the original line-up. He speaks of his time on the show with palpable fondness.
“I’m incredibly proud, I really am – to think I’ve been doing it for 15 years! I love Strictly. You create such a bond with your partner each year, and I’ve kept in touch with all the ladies I’ve danced with.”
Those partners have certainly been memorable – it’s hard to erase the image of Anton gamely dragging Ann Widdecombe across the Blackpool Tower Ballroom by her ankle. He’s danced his way into the nation’s heart with the likes of Judy Murray and Nancy Dell’Olio, and viewers across the country breathlessly await the day when he’ll finally lift that coveted glitter ball.
As we go to press, Anton and his latest partner Emma Barton, who plays Honey in EastEnders, are very much in the running to reach 2019 final. And Anton is over the moon because, for the first time in his Strictly career, he has scored not one but two 10s from the judges for his and Emma’s American Smooth.
“It was hilarious and brilliant and everyone was so lovely and supportive and excited about it. It was a massive thing: after being on the show for so long it was a bit of a running gag that I had never had a 10,” he says, adding with his trademark twinkle, “Obviously it’s not my fault, I’m amazing!”
Asked if he ever got frustrated with some of his more, shall we say, challenging partners, Anton laughs.
“There’s no point getting impatient if they’re trying their hardest, which I know they are.” He pauses. “I mean, I assume they are...”
He also treasures his memories of dancing with Bruce Forsyth, his idol before Strictly began and subsequently a close friend. “Performing Me and My Shadow with Brucie was one of the best moments of my life” he reminisces fondly.
Even outside his Strictly schedule, Anton is a busy man.
“The hardest and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done is raising two children with my lovely wife Hannah”, he tells me (his twins, George and Henrietta, turn three in March). But a close second was writing his novels, a project that Anton confesses he’d been mulling over for many years. Set in the 1930s, One Enchanted Evening and Moonlight over Mayfair are romances set in the heady world of – you’ve guessed it – ballroom.
“They say you write about what you know, and I certainly did that. London hotels, ballrooms, big bands: it’s all there!”
When it comes to his characters, though, Anton is a little more cryptic.
“It’s about everyone I’ve ever met, but it’s not autobiographical. I’ve blended all my experiences together and come up with something new.”
And does Raymond de Guise, his suave and dapper hero, owe anything to his creator?
“Well he’s a lot more charming and handsome than me” Anton laughs.
Whatever he may say, Anton certainly shares Raymond’s flair for fashion. He confesses that he has an enormous wardrobe of bespoke outfits.
“I love well-made clothes and putting my best foot forward. It may be old fashioned, but I think that’s important. Why not make a good impression?”
What Anton is most passionate about, though, is the power and value of dance. Just as you’d expect from someone who’s coaxed moves from even the most hapless celebrities, Anton believes that dance is for everyone.
“Absolutely anybody can dance. I hope Strictly proves that and encourages people to give it a try.”
Anton & Erin… Dance Those Magical Movies comes to Guildford G Live on Feb 1; Fairfield Halls on Feb 27; and the New Victoria Theatre, Woking on Mar 5; antonanderinlive.co.uk
Anton’s Truly Madly Strictly DVD is available now. Additional reporting by Rosanna Greenstreet.
